Reuters World News Highlights 2200 GMT March 12

March 12, 2013|Reuters

TOP STORIES

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VATICAN CITY - Thick black smoke billowed from the SistineChapel's chimney on Tuesday, signalling an inconclusive firstvote in the conclave to elect a new pope at a time of strife andscandal for the Roman Catholic Church.

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WASHINGTON - Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday unveiledvastly different plans to slash long-term budget deficits thathighlight the wide gulf separating the parties and thedifficulty of reaching a bipartisan compromise any time soon.

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WASHINGTON - U.S. intelligence leaders said for the firsttime on Tuesday that cyber attacks and cyber espionage havesupplanted terrorism as the top security threat facing theUnited States.

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CARACAS - Venezuela will set up a formal inquiry intosuspicions that the late President Hugo Chavez's cancer was theresult of poisoning by his enemies abroad, the government said.

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SOFIA - New Bulgarian interim Prime Minister Marin Raikovpledged on Tuesday to retain fiscal discipline with a cabinet ofprofessionals that aims to maintain market confidence andplacate protesters ahead of an election on May 12.

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NAIROBI - Allies of Kenya's defeated presidential contenderRaila Odinga filed a petition on Tuesday asking the High Courtto compel the electoral commission and mobile operator Safaricomto release documents to bolster their claim the vote was stolen.

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NUUK - Voters in Greenland's capital braved heavy snow andcrowded into its one polling station on Tuesday in an electionwhich pits economic development against concerns over theenvironment and Chinese influence.

FRANKFURT - A wary German central bank said on Tuesday ithad set aside billions more euros against what it deems riskyEuropean Central Bank moves, and criticised France directly for"floundering" in its reform drives.

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BELGRADE - Heads bowed where a sniper struck, the politicalheirs of Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic paid tribute onTuesday to the murdered reformer who led his overthrow andplotted the pro-Western path that they now follow.